Guest Post from Sweetopia : Marbling Cookies

Sunday, March 28, 2010

I have *such* a treat for you guys today! This is the very first guest post on Bake at 350 and I am so, so happy to introduce you to Marian. Marian's blog is called Sweetopia and I'm not exaggerating when I say it is a cookie wonderland! I literally cried the first time I saw it. You'll love it, too! {Just WAIT until you see the little owl below!}

Thank you, Marian, for guest posting today! We are so lucky to have you here!

Hi! I'm Marian.

I'm really thrilled and honored to be here as a guest contributor for Bridget's website! Every time I visit I'm inspired by her eye-candy cookies and baked goods of all kinds! Hopefully you'll like the sweets I'm sharing today.

If you've tried cookies like these before you know how simple they are to make, and if you haven't, you're about to find out just how easy they are to create.

It's called marbling or swirling, which is basically when one or more colors of icing are applied to a base coat of icing, and then a toothpick, cake tester, pin or skewer is dragged through the icing to create a marbled or swirly effect.

Each combination of colors creates another look.

Just by changing the way you set up your lines and drag the toothpick, completely different designs emerge.

You can incorporate the swirled icing into your design, like these feathered cookie friends:

If you'd like to try the swirling effect, the most important thing for your success is the consistency of the icing. Bridget has some great points about that here, and my cookie decorating tutorial goes over some tips and the 10-second rule here.

Once you have your cookies baked and icing made, it's time to begin by piping your outline. I like to use a piping bag fitted with a coupler and #2 tip.

Fill or flood your cookie with royal icing right away. You could leave the outline to set to create a solid dam, but you'll be able to see the border when the icing dries.

Once you've filled the whole cookie in, shake it gently left to right on your work surface, to help smooth the icing out.

Add your second (or more), layers or colors of icing. Work as quickly as you can before the icing sets.

Take a toothpick, pin, skewer or dough tester (hey, whatever works!), and drag it through the icing. In this case I drew S-like shapes. The image below shows which direction I dragged the toothpick in.

Finish off the edges with dots or another design of your choice and you're done!

The hearts are made by piping dots and dragging the toothpick through the center of each dot.

Let your cookies dry, package and ribbon.

Simple, easy, fun and impressive!

If you have any questions or comments come visit me over at Sweetopia for more information or to contact me directly.

A big thanks to Bridget, cookie decorator extraordinaire, for having me as her guest blogger!

Really like this "Guest Post" feature Bridget! Marian, what a great tutorial! From an earlier post of Bridget's I learned the basics and just did some tulip cookies using it and with different colours. The technique for the dots is new information and I really appreciate it. Always a good day when I learn something new. Thank you ladies!

I have always liked both creating marbling effects in icing and seeing it on display, too. It's so pretty! And my heart melted on here when I saw the CUTE owl...and the ducks...and the chickens! OH MY! Perfection - simply put.

Extremely informative! I love the step by step instructions. I haven't tried to decorate cookies before because they look so intimidating. These are too beautiful to eat. :-D OK I would eat it, but then think of all the time spent.. dang

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this technique! I tried it today and had great success! I had been looking for a long time to find out exactly how to do this particular technique, so I am so happy to now know the "secret" so I can WOW everyone! Thanks SO much!

OMGoodness!!!!!OMGoodness!!!!!!That is tooo coooool! ANd that owl up there...on that cookie...OMG!If I could create that...my life would be complete!xxooxxWhat talented ladies you are!Perfection indeed!

Bridget!Going to browse around and see how cute you have decorated spring bunnies or flowers and I may have to copy your design for spring cookies for my sweet mom. Going to search for cuteness NOW!!!xo

I discovered your blog this week and I couldn't wait to make some cookies with marbling. I followed your directions and the cookies are gorgeous! I have one question about tip size. Just wondering what size of tip you used for the horizonal lines (the ones that get marbled) and how that differs/compares to the tip size you used to pipe the outline (I used tip#3 for both). I'm also wondering what size tip you used for the little pearls/dots you put around the perimeter of the whole cookie.

A BIG question...no, I mean a BAG question. Do you buy all different sizes of celophane bags or do you mostly buy one size? I always seem to run out so I should buy larger amounts. What does your stash look like? Thanks......great post, thanks.

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Welcome to Bake at 350! I'm Bridget and I like all things sweet...especially cookie decorating. I hope you'll find some inspiration here. So, grab a chair (and a cookie) and let's get baking! [read more here >>]